Textile weave simulator and method



June 18, 1968 J- M. SNYDER TEXTILE WEAVE SIMULATOR AND METHOD FIG 6 INVENTOR.

JOHN M. SNYDER ATTORNEY fdwad Q Filed Jan. 4, 1966 FIG. 5

United States Patent 3,388,441 TEXTILE WEAVE SIMULATOR AND METHOD John M. Snyder, New York, N.Y., assignor to Commercial Carpet Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Ian. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 518,647 8 Claims. (Cl. 28-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to design planning devices, and in particular, a textile weave simulator in which various designs for textiles, and particularly carpeting, can be visualized by the use of the device and the method of the invention. Yarn is wound around yarn holders which are held in spaced parallel relationship on notched hangers on the frame of the invention. By this means, the selected yarns are held in a design relationship, as if actually woven, to present a surface simulating a finished design.

In the prior art, a designer of textiles, and in particular, a designer of carpeting had no practical way of simulating a woven piece of carpet in accordance with a particular design. About all that he could do when selecting colors to be woven into a carpet was to twist them into a single yarn and then try to extrapolate fro-m this the actual appearance of the finished carpet. The only other way in which he could determine what the finished carpet would look like would be to actually weave a sample of the carpet for each design being considered, and this would result in a very expensive method of selecting designs.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a textile weave simulator in which a textile design, and in particular, a design for a piece of carpeting, can be simulated to a marked degree of realness without the necessity of actually weaving the textile or the piece of carpeting.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for simulating a piece of carpeting or a textile from a previously determined design without the actual necessity of manufacturing the carpeting or weaving the textile.

The device of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of details of the ini vention with parts cut away;

FIG. 3 is a plan View;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation;

FIG. 5 is a top plan with parts cut away; and

FIG. 6 is a top plan view.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The device is comprised of a main frame 10 which has a base portion 12 having a pair of longitudinal grooves 14 into which hangers 16 are positioned. Each hanger 16 has notches 18 adapted to dovetailwith notches 20 of each of a plurality of yarn holders 22 so that when the various parts are assembled, they will have the appearance as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, it being understood that the hangers 14 are preferably fixed in place permanently by adhesive or otherwise, and the yarn holders 22 are selectively removable and replaceable. Each yarn holder 22 has a pair of notches 26 which are of assistance in holding twists of yarn 28. A twist of yarn 28 is placed in a notch such as notch 26 as shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings, and then wound around the yarn holder 22 and again fastened at its ice other end by friction hold in other notch 26. The yarn holder 22 is then placed on the frame 10 of the device by doveta-iling notches 24) with a pair of notches 18, and the yarn holder 22 containing yarn will then have the appearance as shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

A twist of yarn 28 is made up of plies of yarn of different colors selected from different skeins, twisted together in a single yarn strand such as yarn strand twist 28. There may be a plurality of colors, and for purposes of the invention, four colors identified as 1, 2, 3 and 4 in FIG. 3 of the drawings are illustrated.

FIG. 6 shows the invention with a sheet or cover means 30 in position over the grouped yarn holders so that they may be seen through the observation station 32. Thus, reference to FIG. 6 will show yarn 28 twisted on yarn holders in lines and in color groupings simulating an actual piece of carpeting. For convenience, the cover sheet 3%) may be formed integrally with a backing 34 and may be held in place by means of a snap fastener or other fastening element having a male portion 36 and a female portion 38. This not only serves to conveniently maintain the cover sheet 39 in position, but also serves to keep all of the elements of the device in position during its use and after it has been assem'bled.

When cover sheet 30 is in position over yarn holders 22 with twists of yarn 28 in place, then observation station 32 forms a frame over the yarn holders through which the designer or other person may view the twists of yarn 28, which now have the simulated appearance of a piece of carpeting or textile as the case may be, within the frame of the observation station 32.

A typical method for performing the operations of the invention are as follows:

(1) The designer makes a design in which a number of yarn plies are twisted into a yarn twist and incorporated into the construction of the carpet or textile.

(2) The designer then selects his colors for the plies of yarn from the skeins for as many plies as the carpet construction contains, for each line or row thereof.

(3) Having selected his colors for each ply, the designer twists the plies together into a single yarn twist 28.

(4) The designer then takes this single yarn twist 28 and wraps it around a yarn holder 22 which he inserts into the frame 16 of the device of the invention.

(5) This procedure is repeated for each line of the carpet, or textile, until all of the yarn holders in the frame of the device are wound with yarn twists in the designers design selection.

(6) The cover sheet 30 is then placed over the yarn holders 22, and through the opening or observation station 32 in the cover sheet 36, the designer is able to view a very close and realistic approximation of what his carpet design would appear like, had it been actually woven, each yarn holder representing a row or line of carpet yarn in an actual piece of carpe While the invention has been illustrated in particular with reference to carpeting, there is no reason why it may not be used to simulate other types of textile designs and weaves, especially where the materials used are yarnlike.

W'hile I have described my invention in its preferred forms, there are other forms which it may take without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I, therefore, desire to be protected for all forms coming within the claims hereinbelow.

Wherefore I claim:

1. A textile weave simulator comprising a main frame including a base portion having at least one pair of hangers mounted in substantially parallel relationship in combination with a plurality of yarn holders with at least one ply of yarn wound around at least one of said yarn holders,

said hangers having a series of spaced notches adapted to receive said yarn holders and hold same in spaced parallel relationship on said frame.

2. The textile weave simulator as defined in claim 1, in which the yarn holders are removable and a plurality of them are wound with a plurality of plies of selected yarns, said yarns for each yarn holder being selected from a pre-determined weave pattern from a corresponding line of a planned textile material.

3. The textile weave simulator as defined in claim 2, in which a sheet comprising an observation station is positioned over said yarn holders positioned in said main frame.

4. The textile weave simulator as defined in claim 3, in which the sheet comprising the observation station is formed together with a backing portion to which the said main frame is fastened, said sheet and said backing portion each having fastening elements adapted to be fastened with the main frame held between the said sheet and the said backing portion, and with said observation station positioned over said yarn holders and masking all but an area comprising wound yarn to simulate the surface of a woven area.

5. The textile weave simulator as defined in claim 4, in which the textile material simulated is a piece of carpet.

6. A method for simulating the appearance of a planned textile material comprising the steps of selecting a design for a textile material having lines comprising different yarns, then selecting yarns from skeins of the actual yarns for each line of the design and twisting said yarns together into a single yarn, then wrapping the resultant single yarn around a yarn holder and placing it in a yarn holder frame, then repeating the foregoing steps for the next line of the design and placing the next yarn holder in substantially parallel relationship to the first mentioned yarn holder in the said yarn holder frame, then continuing to repeat the foregoing steps until a desired number of yarn holders containing wound yarn are placed on the yarn holder frame.

7. The method as defined in claim 6 which includes the further step of placing a sheet having an observation station over the yarn holders, and then viewing the yarn holders through the said observation station.

8. The method as defined in claim 7, in which the design is a carpet, and the yarns selected are yarns used in the manufacture of a carpet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,495,054 1/1950 Cooper 20682 X 2,076,426 4/1937 Caswell et al l61--18 FOREIGN PATENTS 896,906 5/1944 France. 612,662 5/1935 Germany. 749,463 5/ 1953 Great Britain. 302,689 11/1932 Italy.

LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner. 

